Most high school, elementary and junior high students don’t typically get the chance to design a house for Tiger Woods, but those involved with the Michigan Industrial and Technology Education Society, or MITES, convention got the once-in-a-lifetime chance with their projects.
Students entered projects in fields including wrought metal, plastics, graphic arts, construction and woodworking. Between 4,500 and 5,000 students displayed their projects Wednesday through Saturday at the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing.
In order to show at the convention, the students’ projects had to place in the top four of their region in one of the state’s 19 regional competitions.
The projects were judged by experts in each of the fields.
The convention was run by MITES, an 80-year-old nonprofit organization made up of administrators, current and former teachers, students, and businessmen and women involved in applied arts.
Greg Meyer, former president and newly-elected convention chairman, said MITES is the link between classroom learning and real-world application.
“We’ve got to get these kids to look at math, science and language arts differently,” Meyer said. “That’s what we’ve been doing for 80 years, and that is what we are going to do for another 80 years.”
A.J. Webb, a St. John’s High School senior, received a first place finish for his machine shop project and a fourth place finish in his architectural drawing. He said he plans to incorporate the skills he picked up while doing his projects into his future career.
“It is really cool, the stuff that’s (at the convention),” he said. “I wouldn’t expect anyone in my grade to be able to make something like those grandfather clocks, let alone a junior high student.”
Webb said he plans to attend Lansing Community College and study woodworking, metalwork or drafting.
Some members of MITES said they were concerned that the Michigan Merit Curriculum, a set of high school graduation requirements effective for the class of 2011, makes it harder for students to take many classes in the applied arts, which would include woodshop and drafting.
David Barresi, Frankfort High School teacher and MITES member, said a lot of schools are moving toward a standard-based education.
“We are starting to get benchmarks in these fields and we haven’t had that before,” he said.
“A lot of politicians are getting excited, and I expect there will be more favorable legislation enacted. It gives credibility to the subject area because your core subjects have had these standards, which have allowed specific school programs to be measured.”
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